The court and the law take a great interest in child support and spousal support. It takes an even greater interest in the non-payment of support. The court sees non-payment as a crime. If you have not been on schedule regarding your child and spousal support payments, you can expect a knock on the door. What to do if you owe thousands in child support.
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You need a serious conversation with your attorney. Get ahead of this before it becomes a large arrearage in child support. You may try to use the excuse of losing your job but you still need to file the proper motions in court to get that message across to the court. If you want child support adjusted, you need to file a motion. You need to work on a payment plan. The court is more receptive to your request if you do it voluntarily rather than forcing the court to take action against you.
How Is Your Child Support Payment Calculated?
Understanding how the Michigan court system determines child support payments in the first place is helpful when considering raising or lowering child support payments. In most circumstances, Michigan adopts a mathematical formula that accounts for the parent’s income and the number of overnights that young children spend with each parent.
The rules for figuring out how to compute the parents’ income vary depending on the county. The majority of the time, pay stubs or the most recent year’s tax returns used to file income tax returns are used to calculate the reported Medicare wages. The income report may need to be adjusted after the baseline income has been established.
It is possible to exclude or deduct some payments from a parent’s income, such as when one parent covers the cost of the child’s or children’s health insurance. A few payments are allowable as deductions, although they are few in number compared to the number of other sources of income that can be taken into account. Any verifiable income source may be used to make additions. The sale of a home or shares, as well as 1099 payments, are examples of capital gains that fall under this category.
Overnight calculations are a tiny bit easier. Any overnight that does not conflict with the custody arrangement qualifies as one. So, let’s assume the other parent of your child asks you to watch them for a week so they can take a vacation. Those nights would be added to your overall count.
You can decide if it is possible and wise to try to adjust your child support payments by understanding these figures.
Who Enforces Child Support Collection? How Is It Done?
Enforcing child support orders is the responsibility of the Friend of the Court or FOC. If a parent refuses to follow the conditions of the order, there are numerous enforcement options available.
Income Withholding
Both current and past-due support can be collected via an income withholding order (arrearages). Unless both parents and the court agree on another mode of payment, all new and modified child support orders must include income withholding.
Child support and medical support are taken out of the non-custodial parent’s paycheck under income withholding. The Michigan State Disbursement Unit receives support payments directly from the employer (MiSDU). Employers are required by federal and state law to comply with income withholding orders.
Income withholding also applies to a parent’s income from additional sources, such as insurance claims, Social Security payments, independent contractor income, unemployment benefits, and workers’ compensation claims.
Show Cause/Bench Warrant
A person who has not paid child support or medical support may be required to come before the court and defend themselves against being found in contempt. It’s referred to as a show cause hearing.
The court may order a number of enforcement actions, including the issuance of a bench warrant for the arrest of the individual who failed to attend the show cause hearing, if the person instructed to appear at the hearing does not do so.
Lien/Levy
For the purpose of collecting child support, the Friend of the Court or the Office of Child Support may file a lien or levy against real or personal property, money, or insurance claims.
Tax Refund Offset
Both federal and state tax refunds may be withheld from the recipient in order to pay support if the amount of past-due support (arrearages) reaches a predetermined amount (threshold).
For state tax refund offset, $150 of unpaid taxes must be past due. For cases receiving cash aid, the federal past-due level is $150; for instances receiving non-cash help, it is $500.
The person who is responsible for paying support is given notice of both state and federal tax refund offsets, along with information on how to oppose and why. A spouse may want to keep their share of the refund while filing a joint tax return.
License Suspension
If a parent is more than two months behind in payments, their driver’s license, recreational or sporting license (for hunting, fishing, etc.), and professional licenses may be rejected, suspended, or revoked.
Credit Reporting
A consumer credit reporting agency is automatically notified if a parent is more than two months overdue on payments.
Passport Denial
When a parent owes $2,500 or more in back child support, their passport may be canceled or rejected.
National Medical Support Notice
When employer-provided insurance is involved, the National Medical Support Notice is used to enforce medical support. If cash payments are necessary, any of the other enforcement techniques specified are used.
Pension Account(s)
A support order directed against a private pension account is known as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO). A support order against a state or federal pension plan is known as an Eligible Domestic Relations Order (EDRO). It is possible to issue a QDRO or EDRO for both current and past-due support (arrearages).
Surcharge
A judge has the authority to order the addition of a surcharge to an unpaid case. If a surcharge is mandated, it will be added to the case on the first of January and the first of July of each year and be included in the overall amount of support due.
The fee is a variable rate plus 1% based on five-year US Treasury Notes.
Criminal/Felony Charges
The county prosecutor may take up the matter after being referred by the Friend of the Court or FOC and charge the person who is owing support with felony non-support. For felony non-support prosecution in some counties, the Attorney General may be referred to the case. Felony non-support charges are typically brought after unsuccessful attempts at other child support collection strategies. A criminal non-support prosecution request from custodial parents may also be made to the county prosecutor or attorney general.
What Are the Consequences of Not Paying Child Support?
If you’re a parent in Michigan who must pay child support, you may find it difficult to do so. If you’ve lost your job, don’t agree with the terms of your custody and visitation agreement, or are having problems with your ex-spouse, you might feel tempted to stop paying. In fact, you could think that holding off is acceptable.
“Arrears” refers to past due child support payments that you may owe to a person, the government, or both. It is typically the other parent or legal guardian of your child to whom you owe money. If your child receives public benefits or received them while you were required to pay child support, you may be responsible for paying your debt to the State of Michigan.
Even if your child is older than 18, you can still be in debt. You can potentially be paying support now but still owe back payments. Even if your current support payments are current, having unpaid back child support can cause you issues.
Whatever your reasons, it’s risky to ignore child support obligations in Michigan, both financially and legally. The Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, or DHHS, says the effects are unpleasant.
Here are some consequences of evading the payment of child support in the state of Michigan.
[ 1 ] Income withholding. Child support and medical support payments, both current and past due, are withheld from your paycheck and forwarded to the Michigan State
[ 2 ] Disbursement Unit. There are more sources of income that must be withheld as well.
[ 3 ] Show Cause/Bench Warrant. You may be required to appear in court to defend your actions if you don’t pay child support or medical expenses on time.
[ 4 ] Criminal/Felony Charges. Yes, things may indeed become this terrible. The county prosecutor may be tasked with handling your case. It’s possible to be charged with felony non-support.
[ 5 ] Lien/levy. Your real estate, personal property, insurance claims, and other financial assets may be the subject of a lien or levy.
[ 6 ] Pension account(s). Both state and federal pension schemes, as well as private pension plans, are subject to support orders.
[ 7 ] Tax refund offset. Federal and state tax refunds may be withheld to pay for past-due support after it exceeds a certain amount.
[ 8 ] Surcharge. A judge may order that a semi-annual interest surcharge be added to the amount you currently owe if your child support payments are in arrears.
[ 9 ] License suspension. Several types of licenses, including driver’s, hunting and fishing, and professional licenses, may be rejected, suspended, or canceled after a two-month payment delay.
[ 10 ] Credit reporting. When you apply for a loan, your credit score may be negatively impacted if you fall more than two months behind on your payments, which is reported to a consumer credit reporting agency.
[ 11 ] Passport denial. Just $2,500 in unpaid support might result in your passport being denied or canceled.
You can see that failing to pay child support can have an impact on practically every part of your life. Your ability to lawfully drive, travel abroad or even go fishing may be impacted in addition to the financial repercussions.
What to Do If You Owe the State of Michigan Child Support?
If you find yourself unable to pay your past due child support or arrears, you may petition the court for an Arrears Payment Plan. Michigan state law allows you this option but you still need to show evidence you truly cannot afford to pay the child support arrearage to the state.
There are two ways you can owe a child support arrearage:
First, to the individual, who could be your child or your spouse.
Two, to the state more specifically the state of Michigan.
An Arrears Payment Plan must be requested in court through a petition. The amount of the arrearage that is removed after the Arrears Payment Plan is finished is decided by the court if it is granted. The person to whom your arrearage is owed must consent to the plan if it is owed to them personally.
You can fill out a Request to Discharge State-Owed Debt and submit it to the FOC office in the county where your child support order is issued if you only owe arrears to the state and not to anybody else.
If you believe you have strong grounds for the FOC to erase your obligation or if you can demonstrate that paying the debt would be extremely difficult for you, you should give it some thought. You must submit one completed form to each FOC office where you are requesting a discharge of state-owing debt if you are in arrears on court orders in more than one county. When deciding whether to forgive any of the debt, the FOC will take your request into account.
You can submit an application to the circuit court asking the judge for a payment plan and to discharge arrears if you owe money to the state, a specific person, or both. In order to request a payment plan and debt discharge in multiple family court cases where you have arrears, you must file a motion in each of those cases.
By submitting this motion, you are requesting that the court permit you to make monthly payments of a specific amount toward the arrears, and upon successful completion of the plan, to dismiss or forgive the remaining arrears.
Before the judge will approve the payment plan, you must adhere to a number of requirements. Whether you owe money to the state, a specific person, or both will affect the standard to be applied.
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Goldman and Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.